Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has told a group of visiting American politicians that the country will wish they were 'friendlier' to him if Donald Trump wins the presidency.

Two Democratic politicians - Congressman Adam Schiff, from California, and Senator Chris Coons, from Delaware - have revealed a bizarre meeting with the Zimbabwean head of state during a recent trip with a delegation examining wildlife conservation issues.

Mr Schiff explained the strange turn of events that confronted them during a meeting with Mr Mugabe which he was unaware they had even requested.

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump seems to be a favorite of controversial Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who has joked about the billionaire during a meeting with visiting US politicians

'As a matter of protocol, when you request a meeting with top ministers, you request a meeting with the President - but nobody has a meeting with Mugabe so there was little danger of it being accepted,'' he said during a discussion held by political website Politico.

'So no one was more surprised when we got late word it had been accepted. I wasn't even aware we'd asked.'

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Mr Coons said he had been to 24 countries in Africa but never had a more bizarre meeting with a head of state.

'It was like having thanksgiving with a crazy uncle you hadn't seen in years where he says: Why aren't we friends?' he said, 'How did we come unglued? Why is your President so uninterested in talking to me?'

Congressman Adam Schiff, of California met with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe during a recent trip to the troubled African nation

The group then explained why - the United States had begun imposing sanctions on the country from 2001 while condemning the government's record on human rights and the rule of law and flawed elections.

Mr Coon continued the story of the meeting: 'This produced a very awkward silence after which he looked at us and looked at his advisers and said: ''What about that Donald Trump, hey?''

'And they all laughed uproariously and he said: ''Once he's your president you'll wish you had been friendlier to me''.'

The Zimbabwean President has enjoyed relations with some leaders during his time, despite his controversial background. Then Cuban President Fidel Castro met Mr Mugabe in Havana in 2005

A demonstrator shows a poster during a protest against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe during the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon, December 8, 2007

Mr Trump holds a pair of babies as he works the rope line during a campaign rally in Colorado last week